Secretariat set up to coordinate laptops project rollout

Information, Communication and Technology Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i on Monday said the secretariat is made up of stakeholders from ministries, TSC, KEPSHA and (KNUT/

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 22 – An inter-ministerial oversight secretariat has been established to coordinate and implement the Digital Literacy Programme.

Information, Communication and Technology Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i on Monday said the secretariat is made up of stakeholders from ministries, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), Kenya Primary School Heads Association (KEPSHA) and Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT).

“We have set up a secretariat that will work on 24-hour basis to deliver this project because it is critical to the Jubilee government and critical to the country. Representatives from all these ministries will be based in that secretariat,” he explained.

The Digital Literacy Programme governance structure is anchored on a three-tier framework.

It comprises of an oversight committee which consists of Cabinet Secretaries, the Inter-Ministerial Committee and a Technical Implementation Team.

The secretariat which will operate from Teleposta Towers consists of officials from the Information, Communication and Technology, Attorney General’s office, the National Treasury, Industrialization and Enterprise Development Ministry, Education, Science and Technology Ministry, Energy and Petroleum and Devolution and Planning Ministries.

On the other hand the Technical Committee is chaired by the ICT Authority and is made up technical officers from the implementing agencies and stakeholder institutions from TSC, KNUT and KEPSHA.

According to Matiang’i, the secretariat which will work for the next 18 months will also review the sustainability of the digital programme.

“There may have an impression that we are so fixated on just delivering devices. We are not just talking about devices, we are talking about availing content in a universal platform and that implementation plan includes the broader sustainability of the project as we go forward,” he said.

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Apart from identifying digital content to be used, the secretariat will as well open doors to other innovators with new ideas to participate in the project.

The project is part of Jubilee’s promise to integrate ICT in public schools through provision of laptops.

One of the major hindrances of the project has been associated to lack of power in some public schools.

However, through the Rural Electrification Authority, there is a target to connect all the 22,175 public primary schools to power by December this year.

The Treasury has also allocated Sh17 billion for the implementation of the programme in the next financial year.